Between The Lines: Motorcycles Roar and Cash Registers Ring

Even on the low side of the estimates, Bikes, Blues and BBQ, the annual motorcycle rally in Fayetteville, brought in $69.4 million to the local economy and attracted at least 300,000 attendees in 2013.

Of course, for many of the region's residents, particularly from the host community, the rally remains a multi-million-dollar headache caused by roaring engines and traffic tie-ups each time the four-day weekend rolls around.

That's not going to change, but numbers reported last week may ease the aggravation for at least some of the populace.

This four-day headache is arguably equal in its economic impact to about three Razorback home football games, according to researchers.

Bikes, Blues and BBQ is now spread over several venues, although the concentrated impact still seems greatest on Fayetteville's Dickson Street.

Bikers and onlookers packed the city last September, as they have for 14 years, their numbers ever increasing and fanning out all over the region to visit other cities and ride the curving highways in these Ozark Mountains.

No one claims to be able to count all the bikes or all the visitors or to measure precisely how much the attendees spend. Nevertheless, an economic impact study prepared for rally organizers by the Center for Business and Economic Research has attempted to do so.

The center is at the University of Arkansas' Sam Walton College of Business, where the full report is available online under the research tab at http://cber.uark.edu.

The conclusion is that between 300,000 and 350,000 attended the 2013 rally and pumped between $69.4 million and $80.9 million into the local economy.

The lower numbers are actually rolled well back from what the organizers really think the real impact is.

According to Kathy Deck, the research center's director, rally organizers felt that projecting a conservative figure is better than publicizing one that might seem exaggerated.

Remember, the numbers, which compare this rally to results from a similar study of the 2005 rally, weren't gathered to persuade locals to accept the event. The point was to be able to show potential big-name sponsors why they should invest and help grow the event, which also raises some money for local charities.

That 2005 rally is believed to have drawn 200,000 to 250,000 attendees. Some observers believe last year's rally drew more than twice as many, but the promoters will stick to the more conservative 300,000 estimate to sell these potential sponsors.

Joe Giles, who serves on the rally's board, said the Fayetteville rally is somewhere between the third- and sixth-largest motorcycle rally in the nation.

The UA researchers, through more than 900 interviews with attendees and other data collection, concluded that the majority, more than 57 percent, came from outside this area. About 25 percent visited from neighboring Missouri and Oklahoma but at least 30 states were represented last year.

The average visitor is estimated to have spent 3.8 days at the rally, eaten 8.9 meals and spent $401.84, almost $106 per day, on food, fuel, lodging, liquor and other expenses. Those out-of-towners are also projected to have paid an average of about $36 in state and local sales tax while they were here.

You may be thinking, well, at least local businesses are getting some benefit from all that spending.

Some certainly do.

There are others, however, that have actually closed their businesses during the biker onslaught, finding it unprofitable to try to serve a clientele that can't get to their shops because of the congestion.

Often, their usual customers don't even try. They'll wait until the bikers go away to resume their usual shopping patterns.

That's not altogether different from UA football Saturdays when lots of locals just stay out of the traffic and avoid the restaurants they know will be crowded with returning alumni and others.

While many here avidly follow UA sports, some don't and adjust to whatever inconvenience they cause.

Granted, aside from some rowdy Hog calls, those game weekends are much less noisy and shorter in duration than the motorcycle rally; but both events feed the local economy and will continue to do so, always thrilling some people and annoying others.

BRENDA BLAGG IS A FREELANCE COLUMNIST AND LONGTIME JOURNALIST IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS.

Commentary on 03/16/2014

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